Sang It Loud
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day five hundred and sixty-two:  dares pt 2  The tables have been turned in the dare song assignment, and it's Tina's turn.


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 26th cycle. Now cycle 27!_

**DARE SONGS, PT 2** - So a little while back (and by that I mean like 200 days, wow ;)) I had the dare songs set, where the club was paired off, with one person daring a song on to the other. If you'll recall at the end of the last one, the tables were turned, and now well... it's finally time for those :D I won't spread 'em out over cycles though, I'll get them all done this week! So here we go...

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><p><strong>"Sang It Loud"<br>**Mercedes - Tina  
>DARES PT 1: Sing it out (Quinn - Puck), Sing it loud (Tina - Mercedes), Sing it proud (Artie - Brittany),<br>Sing it still (Santana - Rachel), Sing it along (Finn - Mike), Sing it clear (Matt - Kurt)  
>DARES PT 2: Sang it out (Puck - Quinn)<strong>**

_['Time After Time' - Cyndi Lauper] _

As soon as it was revealed that the roles were being reversed, Tina looked to the left, and found Mercedes looking back at her. They'd both known from the start that, being paired together, they weren't out to torture one another with these song choices. Mercedes had killed with the song Tina had given her, and she would no doubt repay the favor. When Schuester was busy going on about something else, Tina motioned for Mercedes to come sit with her. She looked up for a second before sidestepping her way along the row and dropping in the empty seat next to Tina just before Schuester looked back.

"Do you know yet?" Tina whispered over to Mercedes.

"Not yet," she whispered back. "If you have ideas though, you let me know."

"No, it's fine, I trust you," Tina shrugged. "Just hope I have enough time to get this done. My cousins are staying over for the week while their parents are out of town," she explained. "So apparently I have to spend all my time with them or I'm 'rude,'" she sighed. "Meanwhile I don't have a bed because of them," she frowned, sitting back in her chair.

"Well how about you come to my place tomorrow afternoon, to work on our project for English."

"But we already finished that," Tina frowned, looking back to Mercedes, and there she caught the look on her face. "Oh..." she realized what she'd meant, and she smiled. "Sounds good," she nodded. "You'll have the song by then?"

"I'll start looking tonight," Mercedes promised.

The next day, they parted ways as Tina needed to go home before she could head to Mercedes' house, but they would meet there in less than an hour. Mercedes could only confirm that she had picked a song, but she wouldn't reveal it until Tina arrived. When the bell rang, Mercedes went to answer, and her own smile hit the brakes when she saw the look on her friend's face.

"What's wrong?" she asked, barely a second before she spotted the two girls standing behind Tina, like shorter copies of her.

"Mercedes, these are my cousins, Celia and Cora," she pointed to the two of them. Celia was the older of the two, looking about thirteen, while Cora was smaller and probably seven years old. The girls waved, so Mercedes could only do the same in response. When she looked back to Tina, she saw her mouth a quick 'sorry.'

"Come in," Mercedes finally snapped out of it and stepped aside. The three girls walked in, and Tina indicated for them to go ahead and sit on one of the couches in the living room. Once they'd gone, she looked back to Mercedes.

"I tried to get in and get out before they could really see me, but then my mother was there and she asked me to keep an eye on them…" she explained. "I couldn't all of a sudden not have to work on this project, so… I had to bring them with me."

"But we already finished the project. You're supposed to be practicing your dare," Mercedes reminded her.

"So I'll just wing it," Tina shrugged, but Mercedes gave her a look. "Okay, so I want to practice." Mercedes tilted her head to spy on the girls in the living room.

"Can they keep a secret?"

"Celia, sure," Tina considered the question. "Cora…" she looked back as well. "She'll need a bribe. But she'll keep quiet after," she explained confidently.

"I've got cookies?" Mercedes suggested.

"Perfect," Tina pointed her to the kitchen before heading into the living room to 'make the pitch' to the girls. As she expected, Celia was right on board, and as soon as Cora saw the cookies, she was sold. With that taken care of, Tina was handed her song choice. Her cousins were just as curious, and they looked too, with Celia leaning in at her side and Cora practically climbing on Tina's back to see over her shoulder. Of the three of them, only Tina knew the song, as well-known as it was, and she smirked up to Mercedes. "Sounds good to me."

In the end, having the girls there would prove beneficial, as the bit of secretive conspiracy gave them something to hang on to in the time of their stay with Tina and her parents. They wouldn't be there on the day of the actual performance, of course, but Tina still kept a thought for them as she was called forward to take her turn. She kept the mic and stand there, as Quinn had left it after her turn. She could have taken a stool and sat, but she preferred to stand. The music started, and she let herself get taken into it before starting to sing.

_[T] "Lying in my bed I hear the clock tick, / And think of you / Caught up in circles confusion / Is nothing new / Flashback warm nights / Almost left behind / Suitcase of memories, / Time after _

_Sometimes you picture me / I'm walking too far ahead / You're calling to me, I can't hear / What you've said / Then you say go slow / I fall behind / The second hand unwinds_

_If you're lost you can look and you will find me / Time after time / If you fall I will catch you I'll be waiting / Time after time_

_If you're lost you can look and you will find me / Time after time / If you fall I will catch you I will be waiting / Time after time_

_After my picture fades and darkness has / Turned to gray / Watching through windows you're wondering / If I'm OK / Secrets stolen from deep inside / The drum beats out of time _

_If you're lost you can look and you will find me / Time after time / If you fall I will catch you I'll be waiting / Time after time_

_You say go slow / I fall behind / The second hand unwinds _

_If you're lost you can look and you will find me / Time after time / If you fall I will catch you I'll be waiting / Time after time_

_If you're lost you can look and you will find me / Time after time / If you fall I will catch you, I will be waiting / Time after time_

_Time after time / Time after time / Time after time..."_

When she was done, she had to let out a breath. It almost felt rare for her to see a song through from start to finish, all by herself, with all of them sitting before her… They cheered her on, and in the spirit of the moment she had to bow or curtsy or something, and ended up somewhere halfway. She returned to her seat, and much like that first day when she had gone from dare giver to dare receiver, she looked to the side and her gaze found Mercedes staring back at her. Mercedes gave her thumbs up, and Tina sent a bow of the head, a thank you for a relatively stress free dare.

THE END

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><p><strong>AN: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.  
><strong>**In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are  
><strong>********always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!********


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